


See the world

by Deerandtheheadlights



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Fast Food Restaurants, Getting Brunch, Going to Costco, Kurapika has no clue about music, M/M, Third largest ball of twine on the Yorbian continent, Thrift Shopping, just two dudes in a van driving through the desert, the road trip au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:41:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22524181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deerandtheheadlights/pseuds/Deerandtheheadlights
Summary: Kurapika and Leorio finally go on a road trip to see the world.
Relationships: Kurapika/Leorio Paladiknight
Comments: 15
Kudos: 96





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> They deserve this

“Too damn long, I've waited too damn long for this,” Leorio grumbles, starting the van. He can feel the engine turn over, shaking the frame. Most everything he needs is thrown recklessly into the back- a few shirts on the seats, shoes tied up in knots on the dashboard. The necklace on his rearview mirror jingles, and the pocket knife in the cup holder rattles.

“Too damn long!”

During the night the Phantom Troupe had attacked Yorknew, right before they had gone in to rescue Gon and Killua, Kurapika had turned to him and said, “When this all done, let's get out of here. I want to go somewhere with you- anywhere with you- but let’s get out of this city. If we’re both still alive.” He had blood on his face and hands, and Leorio had never seen the other man so scared and open.

Leorio had looked back at him with a little shock. Quietly and quickly, he whispered “Yeah.” into his ear. 

Since he was just in Yorknew to meet up with the other three, the drive to find Kurapika isn’t that long. The last time he talked to the blond, he said he was working with the Wright family as a bodyguard. Pulling up to the huge Wright Family Offices building, he parks the van (which is a brown 1959 Mercedes van) out front. 

It only takes him about a half hour to find his friend. After yelling at the receptionist, he is unceremoniously directed towards Mr.Wright’s office, which Kurapika is standing outside of. He looks tired and beat down, wearing a hat so low Leorio can’t tell if he’s sleeping standing up or not.

He doesn’t even notice the med student until Leorio is dragging him out.

“Come on. We’re leaving.”

“But-“

“You always text me about how miserable you are at this place. Look at you! You’re my closest friend, but right now, you look like shit. And remember our promise? We’re going away. On a road trip.”

Kurapika is too tired to complain anymore, so he simply gives Leorio a light hug around his side. The pair bursts through the lobby and Leorio tells the receptionist that Mr.Kurta is done working as a bodyguard. Kurapika flips off the lady as she yells about a resignation notice.

Out in the parking lot, reality catches up with them in the buzz of cars. Leorio hops into the van as Kurapika sluggishly crawls into the passenger seat. He’s wearing a suit, and the stench of metal, plastic, and cigarette smoke hangs heavy on him, like he’s absorbed it from his surroundings.

“Well, we did it. Where should we go first?” He turns over the engine as the car thrums in place, pulling out of the parking spot.

“Kurapika?”

The blonde is passed out in the seat next to him, his limp hand dragging the seatbelt downwards. With a loving sigh, the brunette heads out onto the road.

When Kurapika comes to, everything is dark. Through the dashboard of the van, neon lights are reflecting. Sitting up, he sees that they are in fact parked out front of In N Out. Looking to his left, he sees Leorio and almost laughs.

He’s not in his traditional suit- instead, he’s wearing blue jeans with one of those 80’s grandma style quarter zip sweaters. It’s purple, and the collar has grey and red zig zags adorning it. Leorio’s mouth is stuffed half with hamburger and half with fries; they stick out as he turns his head towards the sound of Kurapika’s movements, eyes comically open in surprise. Scarfing down the last of his burger, he grins.

“Morning sunshine!”

Kurapika rubs his eyes groggily, hair askew. Stretching, he can feel his back pop from being asleep in the car seat for hours. 

“What….. time is it?”

Leorio peers at the dashboard clock.

“Uhhhh, like nine. You’ve been asleep ever since I picked you up.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really!” He bites down on more fries.

“Here, I got you a burger.”

Sitting up, Kurapika yawns and takes the food, chewing slowly. Radio noise fuzzes in the background.

“Thanks for getting me.” Although his voice is meek, Kurapika is genuinely grateful that Leorio pulled him out of the building. After the whole Yorknew showdown, Kurapika had found a job again and slipped into it, not realizing how it was slowly becoming worse and worse.

“No problem.” The other man waves his thanks off with a hand. By now, his meal is long gone, and he swishes the ice in his soda cup around, staring pensively at it.

The hamburger is cold, but Kurapika is happy to eat it. Suddenly, he realizes that he’s in the same car as before.

“Leorio, where’d you get this car?”

“Zepile gave it to me! I told him I was gonna buy one, but he said that I could borrow this one instead.” He slaps the dashboard.

“Pretty sweet, huh?” He grins, cracking open one eye to notice the others silence.

“You’re still on for this road trip, right?”

“Of course.” He answers without a second thought.

“Where are we going to go first?”

“I don’t know.”

Kurapika takes another bite out of his burger.

“That sounds good.”

“Where have you been staying? Do you want to get your stuff before we hit the road?”

For the past few weeks, Kurapika had been staying at a random motel 6. He didn’t have any plans for the future, and he had really only been concerned with working his new bodyguard job.

“Yeah, I’ve been staying in a motel. If we could get my stuff, it would be nice.”

Leorio pulls out of the parking lot, Kurapika giving him directions. The motel itself is crappy looking, but every motel it. Kurapika runs in and runs back out in about a minute, bag in hand.

“That’s all you have?” 

He shrugs, throwing it into the back seat.

“Yeah.”

The van rumbles out of the parking lot. Leorio can see the neon lights of the city and other cars appearing as hazy doubles in his windshield. At this hour the world is a bit slippery and unreal. He turns the music up a bit and they’re off. No grand or memorable start to their voyage, just the lost noise of the engine mixing with the other cars.


	2. This must be the place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They start on their road trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Music is gonna be really important in this fic

Throngs of pedestrians crowd the sidewalks, spilling onto the crosswalk as the light turns red. Skyscrapers reflect the city lights and dazzle in the night sky. It never really feels like night here.

“So, deeper into the city, or out?” Leorio’s dinky little glasses are also extremely reflective. Kurapika swears he can read whole restaurant signs in them.

“Out, definitely out.” The flow of pedestrians stops, and he cuts the wheel right. Earlier, Leorio had magically pulled out a map and assigned Kurapika as the designated navigator. 

“Head down Vesperteen Avenue and then take a right onto Matsubara.”

“So, what is outside of Yorknew?”

Kurapika looks at him blankly.  
“Did you plan this out at all?”

Leorio cocks a grin at him.  
“Um, obviously not! It’s an adventure!” He gives Kurapika a playful smack to the shoulder.

“But seriously, what’s out there? Cause if it’s snow, I gotta buy chains or some shit.”

The blond scans the map again. Their van is old and doesn’t have a light in it, so he uses the colorful light shining in to see.

“The Gordeau desert.”

“Neat. Hey, where do I turn now?”

“Coast street, then left onto Modern street.”

By now, they’re exiting the main strip of Yorknew. The crowds are thinner and all the shops don’t look as flashy and expensive.

“Keep going on Stauber street for like two miles.”

Suddenly, something occurs to Kurapika.

“Hey….. thanks, Leorio. For doing all of this. It’s really nice, and I appreciate it.”

“What, this?” The brunette is quick to bounce off the compliment.

“I wanna do this just as much as you.”

They smile at each other in the mellow way that cats smile with their eyes closed sleepily.

And suddenly, the city’s gone. They pass a few family restaurants and suddenly they’ve dropped off of the shelf that is Yorknew city. 

“Woah.”

In the rearview mirror, purple, blue, and yellow lights collide. In front of them is an endless expanse of desert. The ground around them, from what Kurapika can make out in the dark, is flat, with mountains rising in the distance. The only signs of civilization are a few random billboards for casinos.

“Holy crap.”   
Leorio is craning his long neck under the windshield to look at the sky. Unlike the city, there’s no light here to obscure the stars, so they burn against the black sky.

Kurapika leans over the dashboard, watching the headlights illuminate the dusty road. He can see the lines whizzing past, slowly dancing under the industrial light. He watches a tumbleweed fly by. There’s no other cars out, and the desert is completely empty. They are the only ones out tonight, an infinitely small light in a dormant place.

Kurapika thinks it’s a little boring.

“Ohoho, this place is beautiful!” Leorio exclaims, wiggling in his seat a little. 

“Look at this! The stars, the flat ground- I love it here! Man, if I was a good artist, I’d be drawing this shit UP.”

Leorio, apparently, is thinking the exact opposite.

“Wow, I’m glad we headed out of the city! What do you think, Kurapika?”

“It looks……… bland? Not sure how to say it, but this place seems kinda boring.”

“Hmmph.” The driver turns up his nose.

“I think it’s pretty cool.”

The night sky hardly shifts as the ground rushes past them. Leorio’s kept a smile on his face the whole time.

“Hey, do you want to listen to some music?”

The question comes out of the blue. Growing up in the Kurta clan, Kurapika was never really exposed to any modern music. Of course, he had traditional Kurta songs and chants, but when he came into the outside world, he discovered that music there was completely different. 

“Sure.”   
It's an empty answer. He doesn’t understand the music he’s heard on the radio, and he doesn’t think he’ll understand whatever Leorio is about to play.

“Any suggestions?”

“No.”

Leorio plugs his phone into the aux cord. Right then, a singular car drives by, headlights blinding.

“Hey, that’s the first car we’ve seen out here! Sweet!”

Tapping his thumb on the screen, he finds what he’s looking for. Soft sounds come out of the van’s speakers. Leorio hums along to the noise, occasionally drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. The song starts off with a bit of an electronic type of beat. Kurapika doesn’t understand what sort of instrument could make the sound.

“You listen to any music? Got a favorite artist?”

“No.”

“Like, none at all?” He looks over.

“No, I just don’t listen to music.”

“Oh.” His eyes go back to the road.

“Well, now that you’re in my car, you’re gonna listen to my music!”

“This is Zepile’s car.”

“Whatever.”

Suddenly, guitar comes into the song. Every note is light, as if the music was meant to be listened to closely.

“Home, is where I want to be,” 

Leorio is gently singing, and Kurapika is taken aback. In the Kurta clan, you would only really sing around other clan members, people who you’ve grown very close to and known for years. Maybe it’s because Kurta music was different; singing in front of another person was an intrapersonal gesture that showed you trusted and loved them.

Leorio doesn’t notice.  
“Pick me up and turn me around~  
I feel numb, born with a weak heart.”

The lyrics don’t make sense. At times, the other man closes his eyes for a second, nodding his head.

“I guess I must be having fun.”

He has a very nice voice. It’s low but strong, and it changes pitch as he sings over the lyrics. Leorio doesn’t notice Kurapika staring at him. The stars above are probably rolling around in the reflection of his eyes.

As the next verse starts, Leorio grins over at his companion.

“The less we say about it the better, make it up as we go along.”

And so the old car rolls on, music reverberating softly. The blond in the passenger seat is watching the driver intensely, and the driver is carefree. Leorio finishes the song with a smile. Kurapika is still amazed by his openness to song and how he wasn’t half bad.

“During this trip, I’m gonna show you real good music.”

Quickly, he swipes at his phone, queueing up the next song. Kurapika moves back to the way he sat before, a little hunched over, trying to pretend he wasn’t just captured by his friends voice.

“The desert looks the same as before. No buildings or anything.”

“Yeah, wait- no buildings? Crap, where are we gonna spend the night?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter title is from the song This Must Be the Place by Sure Sure because this version is better than the original. Anyways I have an ag chem rest tomorrow and I just finished this because I studied for like 4 hours and there’s so many fucking things to study!! Fuck!


	3. Moving On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two assholes catch up on some sleep and get onto the road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NO I didn’t study for my chemistry test but I did finish this!

As it turned out, they didn’t find a motel to stay in. As they drove on through the desert, it became apparent that civilization was nowhere in sight. After watching the outlines of the distant mountains dance in the distance, Leorio eventually pulled off to the side of the road. 

“Is this legal?” Kurapika questioned as the car bumped over some rocks, following the gentle slope of the ground.

“Uh, I think there’s a law that’s like, if you’re super tired you can pull over to sleep because it’s safer or something?”

They stared at each other blankly for a couple of seconds.

“Who’s gonna arrest us out in the fucking desert?”

Kurapika couldn’t help but agree. Hopping out of the car, the night air was harshly cool. The sound of it blowing across his face sounded a little like static. Leorio threw open the back doors of the van.

“Well, this will have to do for tonight. I never really planned on sleeping back here, cause Zeppile was in the middle of renovating it.”

Whatever the van had held before had been torn out. The floor was exposed plywood, and in places, bits of the car’s inner workings were showing through the siding. There were a few random things Leorio had brought, like his clothes, and a surprisingly large, clean mattress in the middle of all this. Random blankets pooled off the sides, with pillows strewn at random.

“Sorry, I kind of figured that we would be sleeping in a motel or something.”

“It’s fine.”  
Despite his nap earlier, Kurapika was still tired. Without another word, he climbed onto the mess of blankets. 

“You don’t care that we’ll have to share the mattress?”

“No.”

Leorio crawled into the back of the van after him. He was almost too tall for the entrance, ducking his head while he kicked off his shoes. Closing the van doors, he laid down next to the blond, shimmying under the blankets.

The body next to him is warm. Pleasantly warm, actually. The air inside the vehicle is stiff with the nighttime outdoor cold. Even though all the doors are closed, it still worms its way through the cracks. The chill of the metal frame feels like a cricked muscle all around them. Leorio knows that when he wakes up his neck will be sore and his limbs will feel clunky from the creeping outside air, and that the tops of the blankets will feel numb.

Surprisingly, laying in bed with his friend isn’t that awkward. Kurapika is oblivious to Leorio’s initial reaction- the Kurta always shared beds and living spaces. He doesn’t have Leorio’s predisposed hesitation, and snuggles right up to the brunette. Silently, they are both grateful for each other; it would be a frigid night alone.

With a shakily slow hand, Leorio takes off his dinky little glasses and sets them onto the wooden flooring. They make a small clink as they hit the wood. Kurapika moves close to him, body hot like some sort of freakish human space heater. The two of them end up curving around each other in some odd form of spooning. Leorio is too scared to go right up to Kurapika, whereas Kurapika is fine with cuddling right up to him. They shift and curve their bodies around, half asleep. By the time Leorio feels himself nod off, the blond is pressed against him.

They sleep through the night soundly. Around 3, Leorio wakes up to the sound of wind against the van. Everything is dark, and he can see the stars through the windows. The sides of his face are numbingly cold, while the rest of his body is warm from practically spooning his friend. Kurapika sleeps on peacefully next to him, so he licks his chapped lips and lets his head hit the pillows again.

When he wakes up, everything is warmer. Looking at his watch, he sees that it’s 9:30. His wrist has a dent in it from his watch- his arms have pink grooves running down the sides of them from where he laid on his sweatshirt’s seams. Sunlight streams in through the small windows, illuminating dust particles. The exposed wood gives the van’s back a lively feel.

Reaching over, he put on his glasses. His legs feel stiff, and the tops of the blankets are heavy with cold. Shivering, he hops up and opens the back doors as quietly as he can; Kurapika is still fast asleep.

Jumping onto the ground, his feet connect with the dirt unsteadily, and he wobbles off balance before hopping to a stand still. The road is still completely empty. Part of him wants to jump around in the middle of it, kick at the tumbleweeds and rocks. He could probably fall asleep in the middle of it and no cars would be there to run him over.

The van creaks with movement behind him. Kurapika is up, pushing through the doors and squinting. He crunches over the gravelly dirt, meeting Leorio.

“Morning, sunshine.” 

“Morning.”  
The blond rubs his eyes vigorously. The landscape around them is beautifully alien. Wavy hills show layers of rock off in the distance. Tumbleweeds and flat, dusty earth stretch out flat before them, running along to meet the base of the foothills. Occasionally, a rusted sign or dilapidated barbwire fence sticks out, reminding them that they too came from a city.

“You wanna hit the road?”  
It’s a question with one answer. They don’t have much of a clue where they are or where any restaurants or hotels are. 

“Sure.”

Piling into the front of the van, Leorio picks up a half empty coke bottle that’s been rolling around for the majority of their ride. Taking a fearless swig, he winces and sets it back down on the floor.

“Wanna get food?”

“Definitely.”

Kurapika’s still in his Kurta robes, and he has a major cowlick on one side. Leorio would never say it, but he looks cute when he’s not trying to be all fancy and bodyguard-ish.

At first, Leorio thought the ride was going to be quiet like the night before. It turns out that Kurapika was just tired. As he pulls out of the dirt patch they stayed in, Kurapika starts chatting.

“How come you like the desert?”

The brunette shoots him a grin.

“It’s just so weird! And dead! The desert feels like an alien planet to me. But it’s cool to get out of the city to see it.”

A singular grey car shoots past them, which they both remark at.

“How come you don’t like it?”

“It’s dead and boring.”

“You’re dead and boring.”

Their ride is loud. They talk about everything known to man. Kurapika has endless opinions and facts that he is more than willing to share, and Leorio listens on with endearment.

“How come you were never this talkative during the hunter exam?”

Kurapika pauses, blond hair swaying around.

“I don’t know, I guess I was just too focused on getting my license.”

They could talk for hours-and they do. Kurapika waves his hands around excitedly, telling Leorio stories and facts. Leorio doesn’t need to focus that much on the road; they’ve only seen 5 cars so far. He slaps the steering wheel and gestures as he laughs at the other man’s jokes. Outside of the hunter exam’s stress, Kurapika is a completely different person. He has time to breath and open up. All formalities forgotten, they learn a little about each other.

It’s around 12, when they’re discussing deep sea fish species and a lone restaurant appears.

“Shit, let’s go eat!”

Hurriedly, Leorio swings the car into the off road dirt and gravel that sits in front of the restaurant. They’ve been hungry ever since morning, and the squished granola bars they found in the seats didn’t do much for them. Neither of them care about what kind of food they serve, they’re just happy to eat something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter title’s from the song Moving On by Sarah and the Sundays. I’m naming all of the chapters after songs I listened to last year when life was really bad because I don’t really remember anything else from that year. I guess I’m writing this to process everything and get all the ideas out of my head. When I finish this I’m gonna finish my dinopants one and probably write some more josuyasu stuff tho!!


	4. Name on a Matchbook

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leorio and Kurapika get to eat some good food. Also Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli are there because fuck you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for writing in jojos😳👉👈

The van creaks and grumbles as Leorio swings it into the parking lot. Well, what should be a parking lot. It’s just dirt, rocks, and disintegrating logs outlining the individual spots. Next to them is an old gas station. Hopping out of the car, the two of them stretch their legs.

They look like a wreck. Leorio is walking around in the jeans and shirt he slept in, both wrinkled unimaginably. His hair sticks up in random places as a result of not showering. Kurapika’s wearing his classic tabard that’s been washed in god knows how many days. Spare crumbs stick to it like some weird vegan bedazzling technique.

“The steel ball diner. Huh.”   
Leorio reads the sign aloud.

The diner looks a little ramshackle but homey. Wooden stairs lead up to a porch with some rocking chairs. The whole building is wooden, and Kurapika thinks he catches a glimpse of a person inside. If he hadn’t, he would have thought the place was closed. 

The two walk up the creaky stairs. Leorio stops to momentarily check the sign on the door handle. It’s flipped to open, so he pushes the door in, hearing a bell ring. Immediately, the strong scent of coffee and a warm oven hits them.

“Goddamnit!! Yer stupid coffee machine’s broken again!!”  
A blond man in a wheelchair is shaking an espresso machine behind the counter with ferocity. On the other side, a lanky man with long hair watches from his propped up elbows, smiling.

The inside is crammed with booths and plaid covered tables. There’s nobody inside except for two men, who appear to be fighting over a coffee machine. The eyes of no less than three stuffed deer heads seem to marvel at their entrance. Tall guy whips his head around, brown curls bouncing. The guy has rectangular patches of beard which Leorio finds odd, but he’s really hungry and not in any shape to judge anyone himself.

“Ah, Johnny, now is not the time to destroy my espresso maker! We have customers!” With a swaying step, he strides over. Surprisingly, this man has a strong Italian accent, compared to the blondes thick country one.

“Sit wherever ya like.”  
The espresso maker hits the counter with a clunk. The brunette clucks his tongue in dismay at him before turning back to Leorio and Kurapika.

“Forgive him, he’s cranky in the morning. And all day, for that matter. How can I get you started?” He grins while leading them over to a spot near the counter. 

“Uhh, can we see the menu?”

“Of course! Johnny, mi amore, could you bring us some menus?” His voice is drippy at the mi amore part, but Johnny still smiles exasperatedly.

“Yes darlin’.”

Leorio wiggles in his seat as the blond wheels out of the kitchen with two menus. Coffee drops roll off of their laminated surfaces.

“Wow, you guys sure are empty today,” Leorio pipes up in an effort to make small talk with their Italian host, who is still standing nearby.

“Yes, Saturday morning- afternoons? Johnny, what time is it?”

Johnny interrupts his sentence. “It’s 12.”

“Ah, so Saturday brunch isn’t really our busiest hour, you see?” He flashes them a grin, surprising the two with golden grills.

“Gyro, you’re scaring the customers.”

“Nyo ho! My bad. Anyways, if you have any questions about the menu, feel free to ask.”

He slips behind the counter for a second, picking up the dejected espresso machine, muttering.

“Johnny, Johnny! You wreck everything I hold dear!” He says the other man's name like “Jhannie”.

Leorio and Kurapika read over the menu as Gyro fusses over his espresso maker.

“Uhhh, what do people normally get? To eat?” Kurapika whisper hisses across the table to him.

“What? What do you mean?” Leorio isn’t really sure why they’re whispering, but he would feel odd breaking the relative quiet. Gyro is scolding Johnny in the kitchen for not understanding how to take a filter out of a coffee machine. 

“Like, I’ve never ordered at a restaurant before. What should I get?”  
Now that Leorio thinks about it, it makes sense. The Kurta probably don’t have roadside diners.

Thinking more out loud now, Leorio answers.  
“Well, it depends on what you like, I guess. We could ask one of these guys.”

The menu is weird. It ranges from southern foods and traditional breakfast items to fancy espressos and Italian cuisine. 

“Uh, Gyro?”  
Gyro turns his smiling head from the task at hand.

“Do you have any suggestions from the menu?”

“The spaghetti!” He yells as Johnny says “The pancakes!” at the exact same time. The two hunters stare at each other across the table. 

“One of each?”

“One of each.”

The Italian smiles at them again before swinging into the kitchen. Looking out of the steel ball diner’s windows, it looks like they’re having brunch on the edge of the void. The pale desert and grey skies make them feel like they’re floating in a box of a building.

As Gyro cooks up their dishes, Johnny brings them each an espresso shot.

“Here. It’s complimentary.”

The two give nods as thanks. The blond returns to the kitchen.

“I’ve never had spaghetti before,” Kurapika muses, staring off at a stuffed deer heads.

“Is it good?”

“Well, yeah, it’s good!”   
Food is one of the things Leorio is passionate about. In his eyes, it’s almost unbelievable that his friend has never tried spaghetti.

“I mean, it’s more of a dinner food, but the menu here is a mix between Western and Italian food, so-“

Gyro butts in from the kitchen with his signature laugh.  
“Call that a spaghetti western, nyo ho!”

“Yeah!” Leorio continues, unaffected.

“Anyways, it’s super good. My mom used to make a meeeean spaghetti marinara.” His eyes get a wistful look to them. Leorio never really talks about his past. From the kitchen, the noises of sizzling food sound out.

“Was she a good cook?” Kurapika prompts.

“Huh? Oh yeah, she was the best. Used to make all sorts of dishes. But nothing could top her spaghetti.” Maybe it’s the weird midday light, but Leorio’s eyes seem to shine with memory. He looks like he could go on all day about cooking, but their food is suddenly dropped in front of them.

“Pancakes and spaghetti, nyo ho!” The Italian grins, dropping a bottle of maple syrup next to them.

“Kind of a weird order, but it is around brunch.”

“Woah, how’d you make all that so fast?” Leorio’s already drooling over the food. The spaghetti is steaming and the pancakes look golden and fluffy.

“Ancient Zeppeli pasta tricks, I’ll never tell!” He heads back to the kitchen, wiping his hands on his apron.

The pair digs into their weird order immediately. Kurapika mistakenly tries to pour the syrup onto the spaghetti, which almost gives Leorio a heart attack right then and there. Everything is delicious- the pancakes are perfectly cooked, and the spaghetti is delicious. As they share both of the plates, Kurapika decides he likes pancakes more than spaghetti. They almost have a lady and the tramp style moment as they share the noodles, but Kurapika bites it in half, sending marinara sauce all over his tabard.

“Damn, we should really get you some new clothes.”

“What’s wrong with this?” The blond questions accusingly, gesturing down at the mess of sauce, crumbs, and unwashed clothing.

Leorio simply rolls his eyes. “You CANNOT wear that every day. Next time we see a Target, it’s on sight.”

As they chat, Johnny busses their table, giving them the bill.   
“I couldn’t help but overhear y’all talking about clothes earlier, and I just wanted to let y’all know that in the next town over, Greensville, there’s a nice second hand clothing store,” the blond explains, stacking their plates.

“My cousin runs it but it’s real nice, cheap too.”

“You know, that might work!” He smiles cheekily over to Kurapika.

“Finally, we’re gonna get you out of those old robes. Thanks, Johnny.”

“No problem.” He rolls into the kitchen.

Leorio settles the bill, and they exit the diner. Johnny and Gyro wave them off from the inside as they hop into the van. 

“Alright, Greensville it is!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that was a while I had finals! Also I have Jojo brain rot and I’m sorry I included them, this may be the only time that Leorio Paladinight will get to meet Johnny Joestar


	5. Static

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SORRY for not updating, life’s been busy, my town went into corona virus lockdown and I also bought a cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also yeah I wrote more jojos in call the cops on me bitch I’ll have sex with them

The ride to Greensville is like the ride to anywhere else. The desert is still barren. Even Leorio is feeling tired of it. Stopping at a gas station, the two head inside.

“Let’s get this.” Kurapika immediately picks up some scratch off tickets.

“Kurapika, I’m not buying you scratch off tickets.” Pushing past him, Leorio makes his way to the food aisle. He’s getting some goddamn hot Cheetos. 

“We could win $4,000,000! Doesn’t that sound great!”

The blond pops up in his way, shoving two fistfuls of tickets at him.

“Come on Leorio, you out of all people should want this! Money!”

The brunette side steps him, reaching for the chips.

“It’s a waste of money, Kurapika. You won’t win.”

“Fine. I’m buying them myself then.”

The pair makes their way to the counter. According to Leorio’s dinky beetle phone, Greensville is only about 40 miles away. They make their separate purchases and head back out to the car.

“Look, watch me win all that cash.”

Immediately, Kurapika starts scratching away at the tickets with a coin. Shavings fly off and land in the cup holder.

“Hey, don’t get my car dirty!”

Leorio pauses to think about that statement as he rolls out of the gas station.

“Well, don’t get Zepile’s car dirty.”

Kurapika blows a breath into the cup holder and the shavings fly out, getting caught in his bangs.

  
  


The ride is 40 miles of the same stuff. They could have honestly been driving around in circles and Leorio would be none the wiser. He plays 80’s rock, all of which he sings along to and none of which his blond passenger knows.

By the time they arrive, Kurapika’s gone through all of the tickets. Curls of the scratch off material adorn his hair and tabard. It looks like some bizarre snowstorm hit, if snowstorms were silver and came from lottery tickets.

“So, did you win all that cash? You seemed pretty confident about it earlier.”

The blond stares sullenly at the old tickets.

“No.”

“Ah, there’s always more gas stations to buy those at.”

Greensville  _ is  _ actually a bit different than the desert, surprisingly. There’s a few more scrubby bushes and trees around. In the distance, the mountains look black, a telltale sign of forests.

The town itself is quite quaint, but it’s nice to be back in a town.

“Civilization! At last!” Leorio exclaimes in mock discovery. As they drive through the small town, he notices the bed and breakfast, second hand clothing store, two restaurants, and general store with a gas station.

“Hey, look!” Pulling into a roundabout, there’s some sort of statue in the middle.

“Wow! It’s the third largest ball of twine on the Yorbian continent!”

Kurapika gives him a  _ really?  _ look.

“And?”

“Come on, we’re getting a picture.”

He’s parked the car before Kurapika can protest.

“Why.”

“It’s not every day you get to see the third largest ball of twine!”

Dragging the blond over, Leorio sets his phone up on a bench to take the picture of them.

“Smile!”

Begrudgingly, Kurapika smiles. Leorio’s thrown his arm around him and is making a peace sign.

“C’mon, one more.”

Leorio snaps a picture of Kurapika by himself in front of it. He’s giving his signature dumbass grin.

“That was cool.”

Kurapika rolls his eyes.

“Nerd.”

“Whatever,” Leorio huffs. 

“Anyways, let's go to that thrift store. You need new clothes.”

The store looks pretty normal. The sign reads “Jolyne’s Thrift Store.”

Leorio pushes the doors open confidently and is met with a wall of noise.

“-I’m just saying, in a fight, I could definitely beat a crocodile!”

“Bullshit.”

“No no, she could.”

A group of four people are arguing at the checkout counter. The girl behind the counter has green and black buns in her hair, and she’s wearing a blue crop top. Holding her hand next to her is another girl with a weird green and yellow sweater vest. She’s got on green lipstick and braids. 

Surprisingly enough, the two seem to be arguing heatedly with….. a male stripper? The guys outfit is a disaster. He’s got pink hair, bootyshorts, fishnets, and knee-high boots. Leorio wants to laugh, but he looks angry as is.

“Yeah Jolyne, you could beat a crocodile for sure.”

Sitting in the corner is a green haired person in overalls. They’re sipping a big gulp cup, and the straw doesn’t seem to leave their mouth, even as they speak. 

_ Does everyone in the Midwest dress this weird? _

“You know what? Fuck you, Anasui,”

The people don’t seem to have noticed that Leorio and Kurapika have entered their store.

“I could beat you, I could beat a crocodile, I- I could beat anyone.”

The girl with buns has a fire in her eyes now.

“Oh yeah? Prove it.”

The male stripper sets his arm on the counter, clearly wanting to arm wrestle. The girl follows suit, grabbing his hand.

“Yeah babe!” Green sweater vest cheers her on, planting a kiss on her cheek.

“G- Guys! We have customers!”

A shaky voice rings out from one of the clothes aisles. A little kid in a cubs uniform peeks his head of blond curls out from behind a row of jeans, holding a basket of clothes.

“Oh! My bad!”

The girl steps away from her arm wrestling match to greet them.

“Hi, I’m Jolyne, and welcome to my thrift store! Just lemme know if ya need anything.”

Leorio gives her an awkward little head nod before pulling Kurapika into the clothes. Behind them, the sounds of the arm wrestling match ring out. It sounds like male stripper has lost, much to the delight of Jolyne’s girlfriend.

“Alright, what do we need?” His eyes pass over Kurapika’s sad tabard. The thing is dirty from food, a night’s worth of sleep, and lottery scratch off shavings.

The pair heads over to the racks of pants. Kurapika has no idea what he’s doing.

“I like these ones.”

“Kurapika, those are tear off pants.”

The blond examines the article of clothing he’s pulled out.

“So?”

“You’re not a stripper.” Leorio brushes past him.

“Here, try on some normal jeans or something.”

For the next hour, they have a mini fashion show. Leorio finds clothes that he thinks will fit Kurapika, and Kurapika tries them on, walking out of the dressing room to show them off.

“Yeah, I like it.”

“Looks like it fits you well.”

“I think we should definitely buy those.”

In the end, they leave with new jeans, shirts, socks, a belt, and two sweatshirts. It’s getting later in the day, so they hop in the car and decide to find a place to spend the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I re listened to Static by Minimall, which is where the chapter name comes from. And the outfit that I made Leorio wear is one that I wear constantly- I fucking love my stupid quarter zip sweater.


	6. Malibu Yurt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I tried to recreate the feeling of eating at a crappy fast food restaurant where the plastic booths are that combination of human grime, oil, and salt grains that make your hands burn and itch after you come in contact with them.

Surprisingly, the sky above the desert is looking cloudy. Dark, bruise colored clouds start to fill in the horizon, signalling oncoming rain. Being in an environment this empty feels like skirting the edge of the void. Everything stretches on for miles, with no end in sight.

Another surprise is the Jack In The Box drive through that Greensville has. Most of the local family owned restaurants seem to close up early, so the pair opt for some good old hamburgers.

They sit in one of the oily plastic booths, music playing faintly from the speakers. Outside, it’s early evening, although it looks closer to 7 pm. Sesame seeds and crumbs fall from Leorio’s face as he takes a bite of his burger. Inside the fast food restaurant, there’s nobody else, save the lone cashier and workers.

“Why’d you wear a suit to the hunter exam?”

Kurapika holds a fry up, wincing at it’s greasy feeling. He could wipe his hand against the plastic of the seat, leaving fingerprinted streaks in the dry oil.

“Huh? Oh, that.”

The sky rolls. It almost looks like they’re seeing the belly of a wave underwater as it crashes down.

“Well, first impressions are important, right?”

“A suit must have sucked to fight in.”

“I kind of thought the hunter exam would be a written one.”

The blond stares at him in disbelief.

“Seriously?”

Is Leorio blushing? He could be. Maybe it’s just ketchup on his face.

“The name starts with exam, right? What do you think of when you hear the word exam- having to fight people or having to sit down and take a written test?”

Kurapika can’t really argue with that.

“I mean, I guess I would think of taking a written test.”

Outside, rain starts to plink against the windows. The stormfront boils on the horizon. Leorio sprinkles salt onto his fries, and the grains bounce on the table. It’s like they’re dining on the edge of the earth. As far as they’re concerned, the restaurant is the infinite present. Nothing except for grey exists outside of these moisture sucking plastic booths.

A few minutes later and both of them are full. Leorio sweeps a few stray fries and paper bits onto his tray to throw away, grimacing at the greasy sheen the table leaves on his hand. He gives a little shake of disgust, thinking about how he should have brought hand sanitizer. The rain is coming down harder now, weeping down the glass in blurring overlaps. 

Knocking his tray into the trash, they silently head out. Wet, grimy footprints already mark the floor near the doors. 

“Alright, let's book it to the car.”

Water splashes around Kurapika’s feet as he sprints alongside Leorio. The parking lot is much noisier than inside the Jack In The Box. Rain reverberates off of every surface, jumbling the noises all together. Leorio runs lightly, as the water makes puddles around the asphalt’s dips and bumps.

“Oh, shit. Uhhhh, hold up.” As soon as they reach the car, Leorio fumbles for the keys. Neither of them thought to bring an umbrella, so the darkening sky drenches them as they just stand there.

“Ok! Ok wait, I got this.”

He’s still struggling. Kurapika rolls his eyes, which aren’t very visible at the moment. Clinging to his forehead, his overgrown hair obscures his vision.

With a click and a beep, Leorio finally manages to unlock the car. Both of them are a little soaked now, and the inside of the car is cold and wet. Even after they shut their doors, water drops manage to find their way in, thudding quietly into the seats.

“Find a hotel for tonight?”

“Yeah, find a hotel for tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the song Malibu Yurt by Charles Brand. Anyways how’s y’alls quarantine going?


	7. Minnesota Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The feeling of laying next to someone in bed and staying very still because you don’t want the make things awkward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No writing schedule we live on our own time😎

After making a few loops through the small town, guided by Leorio’s phone, they find the singular motel that Greensville has to offer. It’s a crappy looking motel 6. The building looks old and sun stained, like the paint might wash away under the rain. Leorio cranks back the parking brake.

“Well, here we are.”

They hustle into the lobby, carrying a few bathroom items and a change of clothes in their hands, leaving the rest in their van. Inside, the hotel is not much better. Kurapika shivers at the chill that bounces off of the dirty glass doors. Leorio pays for their room with the receptionist, who looks bored and annoyed. Around the room, the smell of mildew wafts out of the fake plants.

The keys in Leorio’s hand jingle as the pair strides down the hall of the first floor. Here, the dirty carpet boasts an impressive collection of stains. Internally, Leorio winces at the squish his wet shoes make on it, and internally vows that if he drops something, he won’t be picking it back up.

Their room is number 18, with a flimsy wooden door. Both of them look at each other suspiciously, almost not wanting to open it. Leorio does nonetheless. Wooden boards line the walls, giving it a grimy cabin type of feel. The beds are squeaky and nylon-y. The bathroom is also a contender for “areas in Greensville where you could contract a disease”, with a sticky shower curtain. The whole room feels wet and unclean, but both of them are tired, so they throw their things onto their individual beds.

“I’ll go shower.”

Kurapika just nods and turns on the small tv, blasting static. The sounds of the rain and Leorio’s shower mix into the background.

_ Bonk _

“Ow, damnit.”

Looking over, Kurapika can see Leorio’s face about the top of the shower curtain. He’s too tall for the faucet, knocking his forehead against it as he tries to get clean.

_ Bonk  _

“Shit.”

_ Bonk _

“Fuck!”

Kurapika snickers as he hears the bonks, going off like clockwork. When the brunette climbs out of the bathroom, he looks unhappy.

“The shower works. If you’re short, that is.”

The room is especially chilly, and the shower water clings to Leorio’s body like ice.  _ Damn, does the heater work in here? _

Kurapika showers off too, and Leorio lays in bed, reading the hotel guide. By now, it’s 11 o’clock, and most of the buildings outside have gone dark.

“Did you know that the town next to this one, Cedarwood, has- oh, hi, um, hello.” Kurapika, fresh out of the shower, has climbed into his bed next to him like it's nothing.

“What?”

What do you say when your friend immediately climbs into your bed? Kurapika doesn’t seem to mind at all, moving close to him like it’s nothing. Leorio feels like he’s crawling in his own skin, why does he feel so giddy, jumpy, and scared to be so close to his friend?

_ We shared a bed last night, _ he scolds himself internally.

_ Yeah, but that’s because there was only ONE bed, this time there’s two, and Kurapika came to you unprompted. _

If the room wasn’t so cold, he’d be sweating right now. The bed is slightly smaller than the mess of blankets and the mattress in the back of the van, but there’s definitely room for two people. They’re both in their pajamas, and Kurapika is already pulling back the covers.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Leorio pulls back the cover with painfully focused hands, as if trying to walk around a baby deer. The blond next to him wiggles under the blankets. 

_ Is this weird? Why do I feel weird about this? _

He catches his friends eye and jerks his head away.

_ Is it weird to look at him? What? Why am I asking myself this? _

Man, he must be tired and worn out. Maybe Leorio’s mind is a mess from fatigue, and not because Kurapika’s leg is lined up against his and he feels really warm.

“Goodnight, Kurapika.” He manages to say calmly, pulling the cord to the bedside lamp. The room flicks into darkness, and the body next to him feels extra warm in the chilly air. The heater must not do shit, because it felt warmer in the back of the van last night. Next to him, Kurapika moves a bit, squeaking the mattress. Kurapika lets out a small sigh, and Leorio wants to laugh, because his friend seems so unbothered at everything while internally, Leorio’s mind is short circuiting.

The two of them pressed next to each other do feel warmer than the room, which is nice. It feels secure and safe to sleep next to a warm body, Leorio won’t lie. 

_ Am I being weird? Don’t make this weird. _

The intense blackness around him presses in on him, and with that thought, he tries his best to fall asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah uhhhhhh anywayI used to like the song Minnesota Girls by the Shackletons.... also I dyed my hair this quarantine getting to me


	8. Feel the Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No excuse for this one I just have no schedual or motivation. I dyed my hair tho :)

The first thing Leorio hears in the morning is the incessant beeping of his alarm. The hotel room is lighter now, with early clean rays of sun streaming in the small windows. The rain seems to have stopped, and the room itself feels significantly warmer. Especially on his back? For some reason, his back is very warm.

Shifting a little on the crappy mattress, he feels an arm behind him. 

_ Wait, is that Kurapika? _

The blond, who is still fast asleep, is curled against the curve of his back.

_ Is he fucking spooning me right now? Huh?  _

  
  


Trying his best not to disturb his friend, Leorio rolls off of the bed. With a huff of breath, he sends a silent thank you to whatever being gave Kurapika the ability to sleep as soundly as he is right now.

Stopping the alarm, Leorio quietly gets dressed as Kurapika stirs to life.

“Morning, sunshine.”

Stretching and yawning, he sits up in the bedsheets. His hair is a wreck, and pieces of it glow gold in the light.

“G’morning.”

“So, what do you want to do today? You still ok with heading up into the mountains?”

Silently, Kurapika nods, eyes still closed.

“Well, we should probably buy more food to take with us. And sleeping bags or something.”

“Mmhmm.”

Kurapika flops back down onto the pillows. Quickly, Leorio slides on an old shirt and another pair of jeans. Does the hotel have a laundry room? All of his other belongings are relatively easy to pack up again, and he throws them into his bag. Kurapika is still laying on the bed, so Leorio throws a sock at him.

“Get up!”

No response. Another sock. The blond sticks his head up, blinking foggily.

“M’kay, I’m up.”

Quietly, Kurapika gathers his things and puts on a sweater and jeans. By the time he’s dressed and brushed his teeth, Leorio is holding all of their belongings by their door.

“You ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

They head out down the hall, returning their room keys. Outside, the ground is cold and wet from the previous night’s rain. Damp air clings to their clothes as they hop into the car. Their movements shake the sedentary water drops down the hood.

“We’re gonna go up to the mountains, right?” Leorio is attempting to pull out and unfold a map, which takes up most of the room in the front seat.

“See, if we head north, we can take one of the backroads……. or maybe if we go out from the eastern exit…….” The brunette mutters to himself, crinkling the comically oversized map.

“Whatever. This thing’s too confusing to look at,” he says confidently, folding up the map and stuffing it back into the glove compartment.

“First, let's get food ‘n stuff before we head off.”

He starts the car. Nobody is on the road yet. Mists hang over the empty desert background as they exit the parking lot.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hose the title from the song feel the heat by me like bees, it’s a song that has mixed memories


	9. Places

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I sit down to write  
> I have no motivation 4 like a month  
> I FINALLY write  
> Google docs crashes and deletes my work🤦♂️

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah they eating pub mix because all I do nowadays is eat pub mix

The first place they stop is Costco. Of course it’s Costco, out in the middle of fucking nowhere. Leaving Greensville, big warehouse style stores started to pop up- ones for fireworks, tractor supply emporiums, grain warehouses. So by the time they spot a Costco, it doesn’t really come as a shock.

“Wow. Nice place.” 

It’s empty, just like every other establishment in this desert. In typical Leorio fashion, Leorio’s made a list of all the things they could possibly need. 

“Ok, first- dried goods.”

Kurapika rolls his eyes and starts grabbing random shit into the cart.

“I like pub mix.”

Leorio is too caught up in his own thoughts and mumblings to notice. “Hmmmm, if we’re gonna be there for five days? No, better plan for six……..” 

_ Mmmmmmm beef jerky. Going in. _

By now, Kurapika has taken over their shopping cart as Leorio trails behind.

“-Hey, are you listening to me?”

Kurapika drops in a bag of potato chips. 

“Yes, of course I am.” He's not.

In goes a tub of pub mix.

“No man, get that shit outta there!” Leorio starts to take out all of the food Kurapika’s gathered. 

“Look, in the mountain range closest to us, you can drive for a few days without passing through any towns. We gotta be prepared, ya know?”

Kurapika stares at him blankly.

“And that means….?”

“Uhhhh, dried food, canned food, that kind of shit,” he elaborates, checking out a 12 pack of beans before tossing them in.

“I mean, it’s not like we’re gonna be stuck in the wilderness, but still.”

The two of them navigate their way through Costco with minimal problems. Kurapika convinces Leorio to keep the pub mix and even get a pack of those sugar cookies with the pink frosting. They buy sleeping bags and a mini camping stove too.

In the end, their cart and arms are full. The cashier rolls her eyes as they bring up their mountains of food and other items.

Wind swishes the leaves around in the parking lot as they head out. 

“Uhhhhh, we’ll just have to keep this all in the back, I guess.”

Kurapika picks up the pack of beans and immediately falls over trying to maneuver in the back of the van.

“Not the beans, man!”

Surprisingly, it only takes about 20 minutes for them to unload it all.

“Say, Leorio, where’d you get the money for this?”

The brunette gives his signature grin.

“Remember when I stayed with Zepile in Yorknew City? And how he was really good at distinguishing fake antiques from real ones?”

Kurapika glances at him suspiciously.

“Well, the Yorknew tourists aren’t as good at that.”

“Leorio!” Kurapika says as he gets into the shotgun seat, a bit shocked.

“You scammed people?”

He puts the key into the ignition.

“And your point is?”

“That’s an awful thing to do.”

Leorio throws his head over his shoulder, cutting out of the parking lot.

“You say that, and yet here you sit, eating the pub mix that was bought with that money.”

They could go on like this for hours. Sunlight streams through the windshield onto the dashboard, with Kurapika’s earring shining a fine red light.

_ He’s smiling a lot more. _

And laughing a lot more. They talk about everything that they can. Leorio plays his shitty 80’s music, and when they can no longer talk, he sings along. By now, even Kurapika is becoming familiar with some of the songs- he knows a bit of Honeymoon With B Troop now.

Slowly but surely, the dry desert changes into forest. At first, it’s a few tufts of dead yellow/silver grass. Then scraggly pine trees start to come up, and soon enough, they’re surrounded by thick waving grass and dense forests. The trees rush by them like fleeting stripes. There’s practically no one else out on the road either.

Everything around them is dark green and brown, and suddenly the treeline comes to a stop as they round up a hill and find themselves surrounded by a small meadow.

“Wow.”

Leorio practically whispers.

“It’s really pretty out.”

In the afternoon sunlight, Kurapika’s hair is the color of dusty hay. Silently, his red earring winks in the light before falling back underneath his overgrown haircut. Leorio wishes he could stare at him for longer but he’s gotta keep his eyes on the road, hands sweaty against the steering wheel.

Around 1 o’clock, they decide to stop for lunch in one of the small meadows. Of course, there’s nowhere to park, so Leorio rolls off-road without batting an eye.

“Leorio, are you sure that you’re allowed to do that?”

“Uhhhh.” The van’s wheel bumps over something, hopefully a rock or a log.

“There’s no signs that say not to, right?”

Once they get out of the van, the two of them really see how pretty the meadow is. Warm, thick grasses cover the ground, with pockets of wildflowers shooting out. Yards away, pine trees ring the edge of the field. Random logs are scattered throughout. Overall, the place feels warm and still, with only the sound of the birds chirping.

Laying out a blanket for them to sit on, Leorio brings out a random assortment of food, only getting his foot caught and tripping in the grass once.

“Well, we’ve got spaghetti-o’s, beef jerky, and pub mix.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

Surprisingly, cold canned noodles aren’t that bad along with the jerky. As they eat, tiny butterflies and moths float around them, like the meadow has forgotten that they’ve just sat down.

“This is nice. I like it here.”

Now that Leorio’s not driving, he can look at the man next to him. Laid out in the grass and looking up at the blue sky, Kurapika looks just like any other normal person in his jeans and T-shirt. 

_ I like his hair, I bet it feels soft. _

“Yeah. It definitely is.”

Leorio throws his legs forwards and lays down next to him. The ground is spongy and humid. The smell of wet dirt and flowers chokes up the air around him- he feels like it could send him into a stupor. Still, he rolls his head over to look at his friend, grass stems pressing wetly against his cheek.

Kurapika chuckles a little bit.

“Why’re you staring at me again?”

He says what he’s thinking, yet he also rolls over to face Leorio back, face close to the ground.

“Only one other person in this field.”

Getting a smile, Leorio assumes that the blond accepts his response. They stare at each other, and for a while, there’s nothing but the space of meadowy earth separating their eyes, until Kurapika breaks the silence.

“So, where exactly do you want to go.”

“Mmmph.” The brunette stretches out his arms and legs, relishing the feeling.

“I dunno. Just go up farther into the mountains, I guess? I thought you had a plan when you suggested this, mister big-shot-bounty-hunter.”

When Kurapika laughs it’s really nice. His nose scrunches up a little bit, and Leorio wishes he could take a picture.

“Yeah, I'd like to go farther up into the mountains. That sounds good.”

“Alright.” Lazily, Leorio scratches an itchy piece of grass away from his arm. For the first time in what feels like forever, the two of them can breath easy in the calm meadow air.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok SO: when I was in Wyoming they had big ass stores out in the middle of nowhere so I guess this is accurate. Also the forest is based on the sierras, specifically sierraville, where it’s really nice. Also the title is from the song Places by The National Parks, which really fits the energy I was trying to put in.


	10. Necromancer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is no excuse for how late this is I just hate doing things in general

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also this fic should be wrapping up soon. Damn.

“Aaaah.” Leorio stretches and yawns, flicking a piece of grass off his shoulder while picking up their comically oversized map. The mountains are certainly warmer than the city. Leorio’s shirt and pants feel like they’ve just come out of the dryer.

“Alright, so, I think we’ll hit the next town in about two days? We should be fine until then, though.”

According to the crisscrossing blue, black, red, and green lines, the next town is Placerville, which is barely bigger than the meadow they’re in now.

“Nice.” Kurapika’s still splayed out on the grass, offering up his finger to the beetle dangling on the grass stalk next to him. Discreetly as possible, Leorio pulls out his shitty little beetle phone from his pocket. It’s no use- Kurapika sees him anyways.

“Smile? C’mon, we gotta document our first road trip together!”

Kurapika laughs from the ground, accidentally knocking the bug away.

“Oops.”

Leorio doesn’t care- he was never trying to take a picture of the beetle anyways. The resolution of the picture is, surprisingly, not that terrible. You can make out the yellow mop of hair and shut eyed smile nonetheless. 

“I like these flowers. They look…..  _ luminous _ , don’t you think?” Kurapika rolls onto his side and gently bends the stem of a soft blue flower to his eye level.

Leorio has to laugh because what kind of normal person would use luminous as their go to word to describing a flower.

“Yes, I definitely agree. Luminous.”

_ I wonder what kind they are? I’ll have to find out. Kurapika would like that. _

Without a sound, his fingers quickly pluck a few of the luminous blue flowers out of the ground and into his back pocket.

“Alright. I guess we should get going, then.” He slaps his pockets, toes curled towards the sun.

The rest of the ride through the forest is nice. Everything feels cooler once they’re out of the sun, and Kurapika even rolls down the window to stick his head out. Hours fly bye- Leorio loses track of time so easily between singing along to music and listening to Kurapika. 

Kurapika is an interesting person. Really, the more time Leorio spends around him, the more he gets pulled in. He’s smart, and he knows a lot of random things (which he can talk about for hours). If it was anyone else, it would be Leorio talking their ears off, but instead, here he sits, listening raptly to the man next to him heatedly discussing the differences between mushrooms and fungi.

“Sorry, am I boring you?”

“Huh?”

_ I could never get bored of this, honestly. I’ll be your listener, no matter what you have to say. In the end, I’ll be whatever you want me to be _ .

Leorio waves a hand at him.

“No, of course I’m not bored. You, uh, know a lot about plants. That’s really cool.”

Kurapika gives him a soft smile.

“Thanks.”

And that’s when Leorio realizes  _ wow _ ,  _ I could honestly kiss this guy in the late afternoon rays _ , but of course, he keeps the thought to himself.

Throughout their ride, they only come across one small gas station, an odd touch of humanity amongst the trees. Aside from that, it’s all forest. However, the sun is going down, and there’s no sign of any towns.

“Ready to spend another night outdoors?”

Leorio asks as they veer off into another meadow. This one is significantly larger, with a few random boulders scattered around. The grass pushes against the dark trees, which already look like silhouettes against the sky. Their van rolls over the dry dirt and rocks at the edge of the clearing, the things in the back bumping around.

They’ve decided to sleep in their new sleeping bags in the middle of the meadow. It’s early evening, and the sky is light lavender as the sun goes down. How weird it is to fluff up nylony sleeping bags under the naked sky, with grass and flower stems peeking out from under them.

“Beans and pub mix for dinner?” Thinking ahead, Kurapika’s already clambered into the back of the van, digging through various food items.

“Mmmmm. Just like my mom used to make.” Leorio says, grabbing a can from the blond.

“Really?”

“No, Kurapika, I did not eat beans and pub mix often as a child.”

“Oh.”

The pair of them swish through the meadow plants, over to where they’ve decided to camp for the night. 

“You know,” Leorio talks through a mouthful of food, “this kinda reminds me of the hunter exam. Bein’ outside n’ stuff.”

Kurapika glances upwards, reaching for a pretzel.

“Yeah, it does. Fun times.”

“Heh. Remember when you had to save my ass on Zevil island?”

Kurapika takes another bite. “”Remember when you got us all stuck on trick tower?”

He snorts and wrinkles his nose. They go on like this for another hour, until the sky is dark. Stars hover above them. Since it’s not winter, the meadow at night isn’t cold at all.

“Hey Kurapika, you see that constellation right there? That’s Orion,” Leorio boasts proudly, hoping to impress the blond with his nonexistent knowledge. “You see, you can tell because- what. Man, why’re you looking at me like that?“

“Because that’s not Orion.”

“Oh yeah? How do you know?”

“Because Orion is a winter constellation, and it’s springtime right now. You’re actually pointing to Ursa Major, dumbass.”

“Oh.” He scratches his chin.

“How do you know so much about stars anyways?”

Kurapika lays down on the grass, kicking out his legs. 

“Growing up, my mom taught me about all of the constellations. And pretty much everything else about nature.”

Leorio scootches over next to him, laying down too. The grass blades are a little colder than the air, and they tickle his skin.

“That’s cool, man. So like, what else do you know?”

Kurapika looks at him a little weirdly.

“I mean, it’s interesting that you know so much. Can you, um, tell me more?” The brunette is still grinning stupidly under the stars, but Kurapika still obliges.

“Well, right to the left there’s Hydra- you can tell by the cluster that makes up it’s head…….”

They go on like this for a while, just laying stretched out beneath the sky. As far as Leorio’s known him, Kurapika’s never been too keen on singing, but his words have almost the same feeling as a song- the smile shines through his voice, and he talks with the confidence of one who’s memorized all of the words. Maybe it would be a love song, you know? Not necessarily love for a person, but a learned love of the sky and its stars.

Slowly, like magnets or water drops or glaciers, they converge together. The night is getting colder, and Leorio is interested in what Kurapika has to say. Then, their foreheads knock into each other by mistake and everything stops. They’re too close to just nonchalantly move away, and Leorio is a little breathless, staring right into Kurapika’s eyes, and he truly feels like a deer in the headlights. It feels like some sort of dangerous game, being this close, and Leorio sure as hell was gonna be the first one to pussy out, if it weren’t for his friend closing the gap. Simply waiting is not an option.

He feels the blond’s hands slide his body the few inches across the grass and suddenly they’re kissing, which Leorio never thought would happen. Everything is warm and nice, despite Kurapika’s overgrown hair poking him in the eyes. Not that he cares about anything else right now, though. It’s over too soon, however, and they pull apart for a second, with wily eyes.

“Wow, I-“ Leorio’s dinky little glasses have fallen off, and he lopsidedly gropes around in the grass for them without taking his eyes off Kurapika.

“Sorry, was that- Oh shit, did I do something wrong?” 

Their eyes never break from this twin stare.

“No! I mean, I just never thought that you would like me back, I mean, I never thought that you would want to kiss me.” His fingers make contact with the cold metal frames, and he clutches onto the newfound glasses.

  
  


Kurapika laughs now.

“I mean, I felt like that part was kind of obvious.”

“Really? Because I was NOT getting that from you.”

“Oh.” The other man frowns.

“Well, I saw you looking at me like you wanted to kiss me, you know? You’re not very sneaky, Leorio.”

“So how long have you….. you know,” Leorio mumbles, shoving the glasses into his pocket. “How long have you liked me?” He's acting like a kid and he knows it.

“Since, oh, I don’t know, when we were stuck together on Zevil Island?”

“Seriously?” This is news to Leorio.

“Yeah, could you really not tell?”

“Uh, no.”

They gaze at each other for only a second more before meeting up again. This time, their kiss is deep, and Leorio doesn’t even care that their teeth clink together because they’re both smiling. It really honestly doesn’t feel cold out, and they stay together on the grass, neither one feeling alone anymore. 

By the time they migrate over to the van to sleep, it’s already late- probably around one. Unlike earlier, the night is deeply dark now. The outlines of the trees and features of the meadow aren’t visible any longer, swallowed up by the pure lack of light. With effort, Leorio throws open the back doors, and they separate for a second to climb in. 

Wordlessly, they both fall back onto the cold covers of the bed. This will be another night of sleeping in clothes, but neither of them care too much. It’s only then the tiredness hits Leorio like a truck, and suddenly the crappy mattress seems so soft and lush.

Kurapika yawns, and Leorio moves close to him, throwing the sheets overtop of them. Through his clothes, Leorio can feel the other’s body heat as they curl up together.

“G’night.”

Kurapika leans over to kiss him softly.

“Goodnight.”

And just like that, they’re asleep.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This title’s from Necromancer by Joy Again. This may be the longest shit I’ve written yet idk🙈🙈


	11. Might Tell you Tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this late ass update I’ve just been listening to oingo boingo and thinking about death a lot

The first thing Leorio feels when he wakes up is that the back of the van is surprisingly warm. Maybe it’s because he’s under three blankets and fell asleep in jeans, or maybe it’s because of the sunlight streaming in through the small windows. However, it could be because Kurapika is curled up next to him. The man feels like a fucking radiator under the already stuffy sheets.

With a yawn, Leorio sits up and stretches. His clothes feel boxily worn in, but he could honestly care less. As soon as he starts to move around, Kurapika fumblingly lifts his head up to meet him.

“G’morning.” Leorio lifts his arms and twists a bit and swears to god that he feels his entire spine pop. 

“Morning.” The blonde’s hair is a wreck, sticking out all over the place. Leorio’s can’t be too much better. He probably looks gross from days of travel and sleeping in the same clothes, but somehow, surprisingly, it’s Kurapika who leans over gives him a soft kiss on the cheek, and Leorio feels like he could melt. 

“So, what’s for breakfast?”

The two of them climb out of the back of the van with sleep wobbly legs. It’s not too early in the morning, and the sun is already up. Mists hang heavy on the meadow, clouding up the view of the trees. Dew on the grass soaks into the hems of their pants as soon as they hit the ground.

Grabbing one of their supply boxes, Leorio brought out a box of fruit loops.  
“Breakfast?”

“Where’s the milk?”

Leorio scratches his weird prickly hair, looking away.  
“Well, uh, I don’t think we have any.”

Surprisingly enough, cereal with old water bottle water is not that bad. With the side doors of the van open, the two of them sit on the edge of the mattress, feet hanging out and onto the grass. Nonchalantly, Kurapika leans against his shoulder as they both reach into the fruit loops box to eat their food.

“Sorry for forgetting to buy milk. And bowls.”  
The cardboard and plastic crunch and wrinkle as the blond takes out another handful. A few brightly colored pieces fall into the grass below, lost.  
“It’s ok. I don’t mind it.”

Leorio flicks a fruit loop off or his pants and realizes that damn, maybe they aren’t prepared for going on a long ass road trip. They ran out of the city as fast as they cool; the fact that they don’t even have bowls to eat their cereal with gives him the feeling that this whole thing could fall apart.

“You know, Kurapika, maybe….. maybe we shouldn’t go on this road trip, you know?”

The blond stops crunching on cereal and looks at him sideways.  
“Huh?”

“It’s just- look, I really like you and I do want to spend time with you, but I just feel like we rushed into this, you know? Fuck, we don’t even have milk or bowls for our cereal!”

His friend looks at him with a sad and confused stare.  
“Leorio, did I do something wrong?” He lifts himself away from Leorio’s side.  
“Do- do you regret kissing me?”

Now it’s Leorio’s turn to freak out, and he waves his hands around with emotion.  
“No! What! Not at all!”

He moves close to Kurapika again, their eyes meeting.  
“I do like you, a lot! I really do! It’s just-“ he gestures weakly at the box of cereal. “I feel like we aren’t prepared for this? I mean, neither of us even have a house or anything. I wanna go to med school,and here we are in the fucking mountains! But- but I like you a lot, seriously.”

His friend doesn’t seem as defensive as before  
“Ok then. Let's go back. Let's get a house or an apartment in Yorknew or something.” He’s completely calm and understanding with tone.

“Really?”

“Sure. Why the hell not. With your hunters license you can start med school in the fall, and I can focus on hunting down the rest of the spiders.”

“Oh, well, that’s easy. Yeah.”

Kurapika smiles at him, and he has no choice but to smile back as he picks up the fruit loops box. 

“You know, Leorio, I really do like you. A lot. Maybe it’s because we took the hunter exam together or because I’ve never been this close to anyone else before, but I feel like I know you more than anyone else.”

Leorio swears that it has to be the morning sun that’s making him feel so warm and flustered, as his face heats up and he doesn’t know what to say.

“I- Kurapika, I’d love to rent out an apartment or something with you. It sounds great. Honestly.”

Softly but swiftly, his friend leans over to give him a kiss on the stubbly cheek.

“Alright then, let's go! What the hell are we waiting for?”

Together, they both jump into the van, cereal put away for now. Leorio reverses out of the meadow and pulls out onto the empty mountain road. The car radio revs back to life, some stupid song playing loudly. They glance at each other, driver and passenger. Maybe it’s for the better that they drive back, since after all, wouldn’t their trip just have led them to this conclusion anyways?

And that’s how their short lived road trip ends. Besides, the only real reason Kurapika wanted to go on a road trip with Leorio of all people was because he liked him. The trees rush past them in a green blur as they head home, and Leorio thinks that he could really be in love here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the comments, they are so kind and sweet n I love you guys!! Yeah this was the ending I had planned originally, I just took forever to finish writing it so sorry about that. Just like in real life, endings are not my strong suite. The title comes from the song might tell you tonight by scissor sisters. Anyways cowboys I love you guys, thanks for sticking with this❤️

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter title is based off of the song See the World by Caamp. I am going to base this fic off of traveling I did last yearish when we almost moved and everything in life was confusing and sad (the fic itself won’t be sad tho :))


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